People & Inspiration

“It’s JAYMONEY but the ‘E’ is a ‘3’,” the Falcon guard enthuses. Jerrick admits he got the idea of starting his vlog (JAYMON3Y) from his brother, PBA player Maverick Ahanmisi. “My brother started it first, but then I was like…I might as well,” Jerrick says.

He says that through his vlogs he wants to show people his life outside the basketball court, offering a different vantage point altogether. “I think a positive thing about using social media would be getting your stuff out there for people to see. To show people that it’s not just all about basketball. When you’re YouTubing or vlogging, I think it just gives people a different perspective about you and how you live your life other than basketball.”

His fellow Soaring Falcons are in full support of his vlogging and even jest that they want to be part of his videos. “My teammates always tell me ‘Are you gonna vlog? Make sure you put me in there,’” Jerrick shares, then goes on to say “I'm just gonna try to keep vlogging more, try to get more people that I know inside the video to make sure everybody sees and gets entertained by it.”

Although a neophyte vlogger, he says that he wants to reach out to his fans through his videos. “I think I’ll have more of a connection with my fans if I reach out more through my videos, vlogs, through social media.”

In this day and age and with such a huge platform, however, the user becomes an easy target for bashers and negative commenters who enjoy having a field day. But the Adamson cager couldn’t care less about them.

“Usually when somebody says something negative or anything hateful about me or anything else, I don’t really care. They can say what they want. It doesn’t matter what they say. It’s not like they’re doing something better than I am,” he asserts.

Asked for a piece of advice to people who steer clear from using too much social media in fear of negativity, he shares a neat trick. “They’re only going to say those things so that they can lift themselves up. So when somebody's being negative, I just don’t really listen to it. I don’t really mind it,” he explains. “Just block it out of your mind.”

The baller, who started showing interest in the sport as early as three years old, said that his family was his inspiration for pursuing the sport at a young age. “My whole family, my whole Filipino-side of my family, they all love basketball. They all love playing basketball and they all love watching basketball.”

In retrospect, he shared that, whenever they had parties, his relatives would always watch basketball on the television and play in the backyard. Although he gave football and volleyball a shot back in high school, he only had basketball in his sights.

When asked who he looks up to the most in the field of basketball now, he says, without beating around the bush, that it’s his brother Maverick. “He’s just a big role model in my life. He’s been working hard his whole life. My dad’s been both of us to chase our dreams. And my brother's just been showing every step of the way throughout my career.”

For Jerrick, the sport helped him be a better individual outside of the court. “I think it teaches me responsibility. It teaches me how to be a better man in my life. It also teaches me how to manage my time with school, basketball, and other commitments like this.”

After the Soaring Falcons’ attempt to secure a spot at the Final Four last season fell through, he divulges how the team has moved forward. “Practice…practice…practice…practice…practice…practice everyday,” he simply says.

Jerick confesses that he personally hit a slump after their crushing defeat—feeling down and not wanting to do much—but eventually felt motivated to do better and reclaim the team’s win this season.

He confidently claims that he would not change anything with his game style because he likes the way he plays. “Even if I try to model my game after some NBA and PBA players, I still love the way I play,” he says. “I feel I can still learn different things but I don’t think my game will ever change.”

Despite failing to get into the finals in the previous season, “The Sniper”, an alias Jerrick gave himself for his 3-pointers, says his team is more determined and is gunning for another shot at reliving the moment that they lost. This Falcon is ready for take off and promises to fly high this UAAP Season 82.

Photographed by Miguel AlomajanCreative Direction by Madel AsuncionArt Direction by Mikka CaronanStyled by Ryuji ShiomitsuGrooming by Muriel Vega-Perez and teamVideo by Lui Jimenez, Produced by Deiniel Cuvin